Becker president to step down

Wednesday

Jul 30, 2008 at 6:00 AMJul 30, 2008 at 12:12 PM

By Jacqueline Reis TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Five years after he took over at Becker College, President Kenneth E. Zirkle has announced he is stepping down to lead Post University, a for-profit college in Waterbury, Conn. “I just think that the school is probably in the best position that it’s been in in many, many years, and it’s always difficult to leave an institution that you love,” said Mr. Zirkle, who is 68. But he said Post would be a new challenge. “It’s a whole different venue in higher education.”

The fact that Post is two hours closer to his parents and his wife’s parents didn’t hurt, he noted.

Mr. Zirkle has had a busy five years. When he arrived, the school, which has campuses in Worcester and Leicester, had partly empty dorms and an operating deficit. Since then, enrollment has gone from 1,000 to 1,600, and the school is operating in the black at a time when many small private colleges are struggling.

“We’re not, thanks to Ken Zirkle,” said John M. Prosser of West Boylston, chairman of Becker’s Board of Trustees.

Balancing the budget meant eliminating under-enrolled classes and programs, but the school did it without laying anyone off, Mr. Zirkle said. It also meant enrolling more students, particularly men, to balance out an institution that was 80 percent female when Mr. Zirkle arrived.

Athletics helped. The school added Division 3 football and men’s hockey. “They know they’re not going to be pros, but they want to go someplace they’re going to participate,” Mr. Zirkle said.

Men make up a little more than a third of Becker’s students now.

Other changes under Mr. Zirkle’s tenure include the construction of a dorm in Leicester and the unveiling of a new athletic field this fall, also on the Leicester campus.

Mr. Zirkle is scheduled to start at Post University in Connecticut Sept. 1, but he might leave Worcester before that, Mr. Prosser said. Mr. Prosser will fill in until the board hires an interim president. It took six months to find and hire Mr. Zirkle, Mr. Prosser said, but he fears it could take longer to find a successor. He has heard that fewer presidents are willing to change jobs these days, and there is also the impression that small colleges are struggling.

The next president will still have some balancing to do, Mr. Zirkle said. Gas prices and the cost of heating some of Becker’s older buildings will have an uncertain impact, and “The question is how much can you pass on the cost to the consumer, the student,” he said. Add a bumpy student loan market to the mix, and the picture is complicated. Becker has a small endowment, only big enough to help with scholarships, Mr. Zirkle said.

In an unrelated move, Becker’s chief financial officer, Tyler Kelsch, left earlier this year, and an interim is filling that position.

Mr. Zirkle predicted good things for the school, saying it has become better respected and attracted potential donors. “I just think there are going to be some fantastic things happening in the next few years,” he said.

Contact Jacqueline Reis at jreis@telegram.com.

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